LITTLE LEAGUE: Sunnybrae pounds HTRBA to stay alive in District 12

For The Trentonian/ JOHN BLAINE
HTRBA catcher Nico Estrada, left, shows good sportsmanship by high-fiving Sunnybrae's Ryan Beczo after Beczo hit a home run in the fifth inning of their District 12 Little League baseball game.

HAMILTON — It is unusual to find two Hamilton-township teams meeting up in the elimination bracket of the NJ District 12 Tournament. It just goes to show how competitive the 2014 Jim Davis Cup has been thus far.

Two of the pre-eminent youth baseball programs, Sunnybrae and HTRBA went at it for a Saturday high noon contest at Nottingham’s Little League Ballpark. With both sides facing elimination, Sunnybrae managed to survive, besting its neighbors, 20-4.

The win sets up a diamond classic showdown between Sunnybrae and Nottingham Sunday at noon at Nottingham.

Sunnybrae found itself facing an obdurate task early on — figuring out how to hit HTRBA’s six-foot ace Stephen Barry, whose placement made it challenging for batters to make contact.

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The bats were quiet through the first two innings with HTRBA holding a 1-0 lead it earned from an RBI double by Nico Estrada.

“We wanted to jump on them early and it didn’t happen. They shut us down for the first three innings,” said Sunnybrae manager Joe Beczo.

Sunnybrae tuned in offensively in the third inning, loading the bases on a Travis Holonics single, a Jake Kmiec walk, and an attempted bunt by Jason D’Angelo that ended up popping up over Barry and awkwardly dropping in the infield. The next at bat Zack Posivak hit a two-run double. Later in the inning, a grand slam by Jared Werts put Sunnybrae up 6-1. Ryan Beczo stole home before the inning concluded, giving Sunnybrae a 7-1 advantage.

“I think Jason’s bunt could have been an infield fly, but it got us going,” said Beczo.

HTRBA came back in the same inning and put Sunnybrae pitcher Travis Holonics in a bases-loaded jam, but only were able to muster up one run on a RBI single by Anthony Auletta.

Sunnybrae added more separation in the fourth with a two-run home run by Connor Luckie to make the score 10-2.

“Every game they say they do not want to go home,” Beczo said. “Tomorrow is another day and we are still alive so that is all that matters. Every starter had a hit, so hopefully we’ll come out tomorrow and do the same thing.”

HTRBA was able to significantly make contact, but Holonics threw a range of pitches and sharp fielding by Sunnybrae hindered HTRBA from hitting enough to trim the deficit.

A solo blast by Beczo over the center field wall in the top of the fifth put Sunnybrae up 11-2. Sunnybrae broke the lead open to 13-2 heading into the bottom of the fifth, but HTRA refused to quit, doing just enough to avoid the mercy rule.

“I think Nottingham manager Bill James and I know that its going to come down to which team shows up,” Beczo said. “We’re going to give it our all, and if we come out on top that’s great. If not, we’ll tip our hats to Nottingham.”